Washer - Tips for Preventing Clothes from Wrinkling

Clothing is moved around in the Washer as it agitates and spins. During the spin cycle, clothes are pushed against the wash basket to extract as much water as possible from the wash load. This can cause some wrinkling in the clothing. Listed below are some reasons for excessive wrinkling and how to minimize it.

Reducing Wrinkling of Clothes in a Washer

Reasons for Clothes Wrinkling

• Improper sorting of the wash load; for example, loading large, heavy items with lightweight, delicate items. You may want to take a look at our Washer - Suggestions For Sorting Laundry article.
• Too many items in the Washer for the load size selected.
• Use of an incorrect wash cycle for the type of clothes being washed. On older Washer models, an incorrect water level selection for the wash cycle may not provide enough water for the amount of clothes. For newer Washers, you may want to check out our Top Load Washer - Water Level And Load Size article.
• Washing repeatedly in water that is too hot for the fabric.
• Accumulations of lime scale due to the use of carbonate detergents.
• Failure to use fabric softener.

Note: If you follow good laundry procedures and delicate or permanent press clothes still come out excessively wrinkled, the finish on the fabric may no longer be of good quality. The permanent press finish has been worn away over time.

Steps to Prevent Wrinkling

• Avoid laundering heavy permanent press items such as work clothes with lighter permanent press items such as shirts or blouses.
• Do not wash permanent press or delicate items with ordinary items such as towels, bed linens, jeans, etcetera.
• Items in the wash basket must have room to move freely. Delicate loads should always be smaller than regular loads and no more than a medium load size for the best results.
• Select the correct wash cycle based on the garment type. You can check the Owner's Manual for the specific Washer model you own for wash cycle suggestions for the items you need to wash.
• On older models with selectable water levels, try using a full water fill for a medium load or a medium fill for a small load.
• The proper use of fabric softener will minimize wrinkling.

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